India's Chandrayaan Blasts Off To The Moon!

Originally posted by guyfrom2007
There is only one significant aspect of the Moon mission for India and that is it has acquired ICBM capability for its nuclear weapons. When India can
send a payload as far as the moon, it most certainly can send a nuke across the world.

That is not correct. ICBM capability is something very different from putting a payload into NEO. An ICBM is much more precise device compared to a
satellite launcher. And as for sending a payload to the moon. If you read through the thread, they really have only taken the payload to orbit. A
delivery vehicle for a ICBM has a much more complex role which includes, navigation, re-entry, target acquisition, etc. And with a MIRV warhead, more
so. Just because you have a rocket that you can strap on a bomb to doesnt make it a credible missile.

Originally posted by guyfrom2007
Everyone knows it is cheaper to make things in China and program them to work properly in India. So why not the Americans simply design, the the
Chinese and Japanese Manufacture, the Indian program it, the Europeans test it and the Russians launch them?

Again a misconception. The Chinese only make things cheaper because they use very unskilled labor and produce in massive quantities. Its not possible
to design a space program like that because everything is custom made by very highly skilled workers. True, Chinese and Indian scientists are paid
much less and labor costs are less but not really by much. The Russians launch for less mainly because they use more primitive propellants and crude
launch vehicles than US launch vehicles. Not to mention that they pay a lot less to their scientists as well.

Originally posted by guyfrom2007
The reason is simple. Everybody including contractors, companies and individuals know there is a lot of money to be made from these projects.

That is the main goal not that piece of moon rock.

Well, the main reason the US, Russia etc didnt share their expertise is because from their space program they came to learn a LOT of technical
expertise about building better weapons. Giving away that kind of technology would be very unwise if some country decided to use that to build
weapons. Also, unlike the West, countries like China and India dont have private contractors do most of the work for them. They are mostly done by
those governments themselves and little if any of the work is given to private contractors. The Chinese in particular are paranoid about security.

I did not mean to say that chinese or indian workers have the high quality tech know how. But just as the chinese can build the iPods and iPhonese,
they can be trained to build space subsystems that can be assembled and tested by more advanced nations like ESA.

With regards to launchers, we all know how high tech the space shuttle was and how it got killed. Today most US launches are being handled by Russian
rockets and without which the Space Station would have to be abandoned.

So my point was sending stuff to the moon or landing people there, why not co-operate? And in the process save money which could be otherwise used in
more terrestrial use such as disaster relief, poverty elevation programs, education, etc.

However, what we are seeing is that each country is building its own space missions for essentially doing the same task.

As far as the ICBM capabilities are concerned, a country which has already developed an IRBM and with the precision guided munitions and guidance
technology, all it requires is a launcher that can take it further. That is what the PSLV and GSLV is about.

If you look at the history of missile development and space projects by USA, Russia and before that Germany, you will understand what I mean.

Maybe this was a test image. They’ll probably turn on the juice a little later!

The Chandrayaan's catalogue mentions -- "Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC): The aim of this instrument is to completely map the topography of the moon.
The camera works in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum and captures black and white stereo images."

Huh!!

In 3D comics, two slightly offset images in red and blue are printed, and when looked through red-blue anaglyph glasses, the image comes out as stereo
(3D) black and white. It comes out as 3D since the "stereo" separation because of the offset images is correct for each eye, and comes out B&W
because the red and blue filters in the glasses are opposite colours - what you can see through a red filter, you cannot through a blue, and vice
versa.

If this is the case, and B&W is the final output, then is it that TMC will actually be taking two "offset" pictures in blue and red color bands to
generate the 3D mapping?

Your always helpful zorgon and you know I'm not.
Before I leave with another distasteful post the JAXA Moon
has those parallel bolder tracks.
The American postage stamp picture had no footprints in it so
that was a relief.
Perhaps there are some brown and green areas on the Moon
but the life would have to be living on ether 8 x 10 to 11th power less
dense as air.
The best way, and perhaps the so far unknown way, of hauling
objects to the Moon is by the Tesla Free Energy Propulsion System.
Told you I was like that.
So I'm glad we all see there is a future in space exploration.
Just can't wait for these galactic cruisers to be built. Perhaps done with free energy.. see demo @7:44
Built with Free Energy in mind.
Character treatment said to be after none other than William Lyne.
And he does go to parts close by as well.

So, Chandrayaan-1 has finally entered the Lunar Transfer Trajectory with an apogee of about 380,000 km. Moon-kissing distance! It will approach the
Moon on November 8, 2008 and the spacecraft’s liquid engine will be fired again to insert the spacecraft into lunar orbit.

Keeping my fingers crossed!

And Sentinel, you put up a very valid point regarding the images. B/W or color? Now we'll need an explanation from ISRO. I'm on the job.
Let's see what turns up!

Originally posted by guyfrom2007
So my point was sending stuff to the moon or landing people there, why not co-operate? And in the process save money which could be otherwise used in
more terrestrial use such as disaster relief, poverty elevation programs, education, etc.

However, what we are seeing is that each country is building its own space missions for essentially doing the same task.

Not quite right. Check out the ISS.

The space station is a joint project among the space agencies of the United States (NASA), Russia (RKA), Japan (JAXA), Canada (CSA) and eleven
European countries (ESA). The Brazilian Space Agency (AEB, Brazil) participates through a separate contract with NASA. The Italian Space Agency
similarly has separate contracts for various activities not done in the framework of ESA's ISS works (where Italy also fully participates). China has
reportedly expressed interest in the project, especially if it is able to work with the RKA, though it is not currently involved. To mark the level of
cooperation that the project is fostering between nations, in 2001, the station received the Prince of Asturias Award for International
Cooperation.

And for the mission to Mars...

The current NASA and ESA studies promote international cooperation, and are being coordinated within the International Mars Exploration Working
Group (of space agencies interested in Mars missions).

This type of cooperation will be a valuable precursor to a human Mars mission -- for it will certainly need international team building, even more
than has been done on the International Space Station. The MEPAG also concluded, "All MSR options will require significant international
participation". International cooperation plus resources from the human space flight program could make the MSR budget much more feasible.

So now does that answer your question? Without international cooperation, it will be impossible to reach for the stars due to budgetary constraints
and the need to share technology. The Moon is just at the doorstep and this mission cost india just $80 million! That's less than the cost of a front
line fighter aircraft! (The B-2 costs America more than $1 billion a piece!!) So this is peanuts and did not require international cooperation to
offset the costs.

Yeah I put that 15M picture link in a downloader.
Which went to a 1.2M jpg conversion.
All pics coming in loud and clear.

I know you guys are shy on analysis but there is another
ATS topic on was the Moon a comet and one can get into
ancient text interpretation like Immanuel Velokovski but
how about telling me why such a cluster of impact craters
at the Moon's polar region.

The pics you were so nice to post have this obvious feature.

This polar concentration of craters may have clues to the Moon
origin. How about going pole first through the asteroids.
Now asteroids have their own origin mystery and perhaps
Velokovski had no answer for them.

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